Today on EBAY, October 14, 2008

Another slow day on EBAY. Is there a holiday somewhere? Are sellers afraid to put up their records because of the economy? Is it just the ebb and flow of the market? Whatever the reason, there are not a great deal of high-end items on Ebay today, but there are certainly a few to make things interesting. And here they are:

Sonny Side Up, Dizzy Gillespie with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt, Verve 8262. This is in nice condition and is currently at only $24.50. A nice Verve collectible, which will probably go for a reasonable price. It’s strange: I’ve had this record for maybe 30 years, and I just realized that it’s Sonny, with an “O” and not Sunny with a “U.” Definitely works better with the “O.”

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Keeping Track of Some High-End Blue Notes

 

Another Warhol Cover

Another Warhol Cover

As we’re updating the Price Guide, we’ve been inputting some very nice Blue Note LPs from the past few weeks, so here are a few highlights to whet your appetite. When you do look at the Price Guide and want to see the most recent items, click the Timestamp button on the far right and have it sort the items by those most recently entered. Remember, you can sort by artist (last name, first name), label, condition, price and time posted. Anyway, here are some of the Blue Notes going into the Price Guide this weekend:  We’ve been writing a bit lately on Andy Warhol covers. Here’s one that’s familiar to most collectors: Johnny Griffin, The Congregation, Blue Note 1580. This was an original pressing in very nice condition. Price: $1,225 Read more

Mosiac Boxed Sets (Our Own) For Sale

As always, we try to keep an eye on interesting collectibles on eBay. We noticed last week that a couple of the nicer Mosaic boxed sets — actually, all of the Mosaics are nice — were available in nice condition and sold for pretty high prices: Lee Morgan, The Complete Fifties Blue Note Sessions, Mosaic MQ6-162, sold for $520 and Miles Davis, The Complete Miles Davis Plugged Nickel, Mosaic MQ10-158, sold for $565.35. Now, we are a big fan of the Mosaics, and have been collecting them since the company first launched. However, we are downsizing and trying to drive traffic to the site and trying to get some attention, so we thought, hmm, here’s a good opportunity to see what happens when we put some really good items on eBay. So we did. We put up our mint copies of these same records, The Complete Blue Note Lee Morgan Fifties Sessions and The Complete Miles Davis Plugged Nickel. Both are on eBay now and both have a start price of $300. Let’s see what happens.

A Few Items To View

 After a few days off, I finally got to catch up a bit on eBay this week. Here are some of the items worth looking at today. If you check out the first item, from Atomic_records, you should also look at “View Seller’s Other Items.” As is often the case, this seller has a lot of nice records for auction this week.

 

Jackie McLean, New Soil, Blue Note 4013

 This is a new seller that has some interesting items at fairly high starting prices. This one, for example, is in nice condition, but it’s not an original pressing: Miles Davis, Cookin’, Prestige 7094.

 Here’s one that might be a bargain: Sonny Rollins, Sonny Boy, Prestige 7207. This is an original pressing. For some reason, this LP doesn’t command a high price. Some of the material was issued earlier, but some of it is new, including a beautiful version of “The House I Live In.” Does anyone know of  any other jazz version of this song?

Illinois Jacquet and his Tenor Sax, Aladdin 708.

Miles, Ben Webster and, Surprise, Nat Cole

We’re not watching eBay as closely as usual. From the prices we’re seeing, we’re not aware if things are slowing down this summer, as they often do. Here are a couple of high-ticket items that would seem to indicate there’s not a slowdown. What about you out there: Are you noticing any changes in the market?

Miles Davis, Walkin’, Prestige 7076. This was an original New York pressing in near ming condition. Price: $261

Ben Webster, Music With Feeling, Norgran 1035. This was an original pressing with a beautiful cover illustration by David Stone Martin. Price: $285

I don’t normally watch Nat Cole LPs because they don’t really fetch collectible prices. So I was surprised, while skimming through eBay, to see this LP with a high price tag: Nat Cole, The Very Thought of You. Price: $113.50. Turns out this was not an original, but an audiophile reissue on the DCC label. This was a sealed copy.

A Milestone for Milestones

I can’t pinpoint exactly when this happened, but sometime over the past couple of years it seems the Miles Davis Columbia LPs crossed the $100-barrier for original mono pressings in nice condition. Kind of Blue has gone way beyond that. Here’s a recent copy of Milestones, Columbia 1193. Price: $102.50

 And here’s Round Midnight, Columbia 949. Price: $122.49

 Here’s another we were watching. Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This was an original New York pressing, but it was not in great condition. The seller listed both the record and cover as a cross between VG and VG+. I don’t know this seller, but in most cases, that means closer to VG. Still it went for the hefty sum of $510.

 Here’s one that went for a higher price than usual: Stan Getz Quartets, Prestige 7002. This was in nice condition and was offered by a very reputable dealer. Price: $282

 

High Prices Rule on eBay

Here are the results of the auctions we were watching yesterday.

Curtis Fuller, The Opener, Blue Note 1567. This was an original pressing in VG condition. The price was $190.50, probably a drop lower than I expected. I’ve seen this record sell for $600-plus in near mint condition. Curtis Fuller, New Trombone, Presige 7107. This sold for the same price as the other Fuller: $190.50. However, this one was in worse condition, just VG-. Read more

Autographs Redux

Since I wrote about collecting autographs recently, I’ve been keeping a watch on eBay for autographed LPs and other items. Generally, my theory holds that, with some notable exceptions, autographs don’t dramatically increase the worth of a collectible. Here’s a case in point: A few weeks ago an autographed copy of the Barry Galbraith LP Guitar in the Wind, Decca 9200, sold on eBay for $41 in VG condition, not much more than what a non-autographed copy might sell for.

 But, then again, there are the exceptions. How about this one: An original copy of the Clifford Brown and Max Roach LP Study in Brown, Emarcy 36037, autographed by Clifford. Read more

Kind of Blue, The Collectible

It’s been a few days, so we’ll spend today catching you up on some of the interesting action we’ve been watching on eBay. Here goes:

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, Columbia 1355, represents one of the defining jazz albums and now it is taking its place as a collectible of value as well. We’ve seen copies in nice condition begin selling in the $100 range earlier this year and now we have this copy breaking the $200 price barrier. It sold for $203.37.

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Summer Doldrums?

If it’s Monday, it must be time to check in on the weekend’s activity on eBay. A few high-priced items sold over the past few days, but my general sense is that activity is beginning to slow down for the summer. At the bottom, I’ve listed a few items that failed to meet reserve prices this weekend. In some cases, the reserve prices may have been a bit high, but in others the items were selling for bigger prices just a few weeks ago. We’ll continue to monitor pricing and keep you posted. Anyway, here are some of the items we’ve been watching:

 

Sonny Rollins, Worktime, Prestige 7020.  This was an autographed copy in VG++/M- condition. Price $482

 

Tina Brooks, True Blue, Blue Note 4081, in M-/VG++ condition. Price: $1,625. Of course $1,625 is a high price for any record, but we anticipated this one might break the $2,000 barrier, considering its rarity and the condition.

 

Curtis Fuller Volume 3, Blue Note 1583. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address on the label in VG++/VG++ condition. Price: $401.88

 

Jim Chapin Ensemble featuring Phil Woods, Prestige 213. This was a 10-inch LP in VG+/VG++ condition. Price: $202.49

 

Sonny Rollins, Sonny Boy, Prestige 7207. This was an original yellow-label in M-/VG++ condition. Price: $79.99

 

Sonny Stitt, 37 Minutes and 48 Seconds, Roost 2219.  This was an original pressing in VG+/VG+ condition. As we anticipated, the price was not too high. Price: $39

 

Miles Davis, Steamin’, Prestige 7200. This was an original yellow label in VG++/VG+ condition. Price: $34.33

 

Mal Waldron, Mal-1, Prestige 7090. This was an original yellow label with the New York address in M-/VG++ condition. Price: $274.99

 

The following items all failed to meet their reserve prices:

 

Richie Kamuca Quartet, Mode 102, in VG++/M- condition. High bid: $178.49

 

Horace Parlan, Speakin’ My Piece, Blue Note 4043, in M-/M- condition. High bid: $158.50

 

Gil Melle Quartet Featuring Lou Mecca, Blue Note 5054. This was an original 10-inch LP in M-/M- condition. High bid: $178.50

 

Sabu, Palo Congo, Blue Note 1561. This was an original pressing with the West 63rd Street address in M-/VG++ condition. High bid: $338

 

We’ll spend some time today looking ahead at eBay for the coming week. We’ll post the results tomorrow on Jazzcollector.com. See you then. — Al

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